In fried-chicken-obsessed South Korea, eating places serving the nation’s favourite fast-food dish dot each avenue nook. However Kang Ji-young’s institution brings one thing a bit completely different to the desk: a robotic is cooking the rooster.
Eaten at every part from tiny household gatherings to a 10-million-viewer live-streamed “mukbang”—consuming broadcast—by Ok-pop star Jungkook of BTS fame, fried rooster is deeply embedded in South Korean tradition.
Paired with chilly lager and often called “chimaek”—a portmanteau of the Korean phrases for rooster and beer—it’s a staple of Seoul’s famed baseball-watching expertise.
The home market—the world’s third largest, after the US and China—is value about seven trillion gained ($5.3 billion), however labor shortages are beginning to chunk as South Korea faces a looming demographic catastrophe on account of having the world’s lowest delivery charge.
Round 54 % of enterprise homeowners within the meals service sector report issues discovering workers, a authorities survey final 12 months discovered, with lengthy hours and traumatic circumstances the possible wrongdoer, in line with business analysis.
Korean fried rooster is brined and double-fried, which supplies it its signature crispy exterior, however the course of—extra elaborate than what is often utilized by US quick meals chains—creates further labor and requires prolonged employee proximity to sizzling oil.
Enter Kang, a 38-year-old entrepreneur who noticed a chance to enhance the South Korean fried rooster enterprise mannequin—and the dish itself.
![Paired with cold lager and known as "chimaek" -- a portmanteau of the Korean words for chicken and beer -- it is a staple of Seoul's famed baseball-watching experience. Paired with cold lager and known as "chimaek" -- a portmanteau of the Korean words for chicken and beer -- it is a sta](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/paired-with-cold-lager.jpg)
“The market is large,” Kang advised AFP at her Robert Hen franchise.
Hen and pork cutlets are the preferred supply orders in South Korea, and the business might clearly profit from extra automation to “successfully tackle labor prices and workforce shortages”, she stated.
Kang’s robotic, composed of a easy, versatile mechanical arm, is able to frying 100 chickens in two hours—a process that will require round 5 individuals and several other deep fryers.
However not solely does the robotic make rooster extra effectively—it makes it extra scrumptious, says Kang.
“We will now say with confidence that our robotic fries higher than human beings do,” she stated.
Investing in ‘foodtech’
Already a world cultural powerhouse and main semiconductor exporter, South Korea final 12 months introduced plans to plow tens of millions of {dollars} right into a “foodtech” fund to assist startups engaged on high-tech meals business options.
![Korean fried chicken is brined and double-fried, which gives it its signature crispy exterior, but the process is labor intensive. Korean fried chicken is brined and double-fried, which gives it its signature crispy exterior, but the process is labour intensi](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/korean-fried-chicken-i.jpg)
Seoul says such improvements might develop into a “new progress engine”, arguing there may be big potential if the nation’s prowess in superior robotics and AI expertise may very well be mixed with the competitiveness of Korean meals classics like kimchi.
South Korea’s current foodtech business—together with every part from next-day grocery supply app Market Kurly to AI good kitchens to a “vegan egg” startup—is already value tens of millions, stated meals science professor Lee Ki-won at Seoul Nationwide College.
Even South Korea’s Samsung Electronics—one of many world’s greatest tech firms—is attempting to get in on the motion, just lately launching Samsung Meals, an AI-personalized recipe and meal-planning platform, out there in eight languages.
Lee predicted South Korea’s different main conglomerates are more likely to observe Samsung into foodtech.
“Delivering meals utilizing electrical autos or having robots straight present deliveries inside condo complexes, often called ‘metamobility’, might develop into part of our every day lives,” he stated.
“I’m assured that throughout the subsequent 10 years, the meals tech business will remodel into the main sector in South Korea.”
![Entrepreneur Kang now has 15 robot-made chicken restaurants in South Korea, and one branch in Singapore. Entrepreneur Kang now has 15 robot-made chicken restaurants in South Korea, and one branch in Singapore](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2023/entrepreneur-kang-now.jpg)
‘Initially struggled’
Entrepreneur Kang now has 15 robot-made rooster eating places in South Korea, and one department in Singapore.
Throughout AFP’s go to to a Seoul department, a robotic meticulously dealt with the frying course of—from immersing rooster in oil, flipping it for even cooking, to retrieving it on the good stage of crispiness, because the irresistible scent of crunchy rooster wafted by the store.
Many shoppers remained oblivious to the hard-working robotic cook dinner behind their meal.
Kim Moon-jung, a 54-year-old insurance coverage employee, stated she was unsure how a robotic would make the rooster in a different way from a human “however one factor is for certain—it tastes scrumptious”.
The robotic can monitor oil temperature and oxidation ranges in actual time whereas it fries rooster, making certain constant style and superior hygiene.
When Kang first began her enterprise she “initially struggled” to see why anybody would use robots moderately than human cooks.
However “after creating these applied sciences, I’ve come to comprehend that from a buyer’s perspective, they’re in a position to take pleasure in meals that isn’t solely cleaner but additionally tastier”, she advised AFP.
Her subsequent enterprise is a tip-free bar in Koreatown in New York Metropolis, the place the cocktails will function Korea’s soju rice wine—and might be made by robots.
© 2023 AFP
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Robotic fried rooster: entrepreneur seeks to enhance S. Korea’s favourite meals (2023, September 11)
retrieved 11 September 2023
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